Many challenges exist in handling financial and other sensitive data, such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, bank account numbers, and the like. In use, a mobile system for processing such sensitive data transmits the sensitive data, often wirelessly, between multiple authorized entities, any of which can store the sensitive data. For example, in a retail environment a user may make a payment with a mobile phone at a register, the register may transmit a credit card number received from the mobile phone to a local server, the local server may transmit the credit card number to a bank, and so forth. In this example, the credit card number may be stored at the mobile phone, the register, the local server, the bank, and at any other entity implemented within a payment environment. Sensitive data is vulnerable in such an environment to interception by unauthorized entities at multiple points, such as during each transmission between authorized entities or while stored at any authorized entity.
To prevent unauthorized access to sensitive data, steps can be taken to protect the sensitive data. Such data protection measures are required by many jurisdictions for various categories of sensitive data. The sensitive data can be encrypted during transmission or storage using an encryption algorithm and encryption key. However, encryption can be overcome/broken using a variety of hacking methods, and the use of encryption in financial systems is often subject to resource-intensive audit requirements. Data storage security measures can be implemented while the sensitive data is stored at an authorized entity, but such storage security measures generally protect against intrusion by an unauthorized entity and do not protect the sensitive data after the unauthorized entity has overridden or bypassed the storage security measures.